[00:00:00] Speaker A: When it kind of progressively gets darker and like the lights start flickering and stuff, he would like kind of bury his head in my shoulder and be like, spooky, spooky mama.
And then when it like all this cycle ends and it restarts and it gets, you know, light again, then he turned to me, he's like, not spooky mama.
It was just really funny how he was like, oh, like it's not spooky anymore. But like, then the fish went away and then he was upset that he couldn't see the fish.
Foreign.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Welcome back everybody to this week's episode of the DCL Duo Podcast, brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel. And Sam, it's jingle time.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Woohoo.
Simply the best.
Better than all the rest.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Yes, yes, yes, that is true. We have our listener review. This is.
[00:00:57] Speaker C: People probably think we're so full of ourselves that we do that we're like
[00:01:01] Speaker B: two of actually the most humble people
[00:01:02] Speaker A: you will ever meet.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Well, maybe not, Sam. All right, all right, this review.
We are finally wrapping up our reviews from Canada. This one comes From Movie Fan Triple 7, all the Way back in the Wayback Machine From April of 2021, who writes great Disney cruise content and more. The reason the DCL Duo Podcast is so refreshing is that it offers honest, independent content and opinions without an underlying sales pitch. There's a mix of all things Disney, including the parks and entertainment, with genuine guests who offer useful advice. Keep up the great content well. Thank you movie fan 777. We have, we have kind of abandoned our general Disney ways in favor of just really focusing in on the cruise line and adventures by Disney. But we hope you're still out there enjoying the content and I will just say a big thank you to you and as always, everyone out there listening, remember, one of the easiest ways to help support our show. Head over to Apple Podcast, hit those five stars and if you leave us a written review along with your five star rating, we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main episodes. And as I've been saying lately, like, feel free to hit those stars, those thumbs, those hearts. Like whatever symbol says you like the duo on whatever podcast platform you are using, hit it. And we may find a way to dig up those reviews as well.
[00:02:12] Speaker C: But yeah, and don't forget to follow us on the socials because we, you know, we post a lot on our Instagram and on our Facebook of course, you know, subscribe to us on YouTube if you're not already. But it really does help get our content, you know, out there to more to more ears and eyes. So we very much appreciate that level of visibility. But yeah, thanks for the review and let's start the show. Brian.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Yeah, go for it.
[00:02:38] Speaker C: All right. I am super excited. We did actually kind of a call out to our listeners to say, hey, if you're sailing on the Destiny with younger age kids, we'd be interested to find out what your younger age kids think of the Destiny because, you know, we sailed on the early sailings of the Destiny with our son Nathan, who's 12. And of course that's a very different experience than sailing with, let's say preschoolers or younger elementary kids. And we were so excited when we heard from several listeners, including our guest today, Jessica. Welcome to the show, Jessica.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: Hi, good morning.
[00:03:16] Speaker C: We're excited to have you.
Thanks for reaching out. We very much appreciate it. We think this is important for us to make sure that.
Well, not make sure. I mean, Disney has their own idea of who their target audience is for all of their ships and maybe for individual ships as well. And we've definitely been curious to hear from people like you who have younger kids and what their impressions of the Destiny were and whether or not the ship has enough to offer for those younger sailors as well as adults and maybe older, you know, kids and young teens.
But Jessica, before we get into today's show topic and talking about your cruise on the Destiny, we gotta ask your Disney background. I know you're not far from Disneyland to down in Southern California, but tell us what's your sort of Disney background?
[00:04:05] Speaker A: So I grew up in Northern California, so I got a couple trips to Disneyland when I was a kid and then of course grew up with the Disney movies in the 80s and 90s. And then I moved to Southern California when I went to grad school and then got married. And I've been down here for almost about over 20 years now.
And my husband and I went to Disneyland quite a few times over the years and then started going on the cruises a few years ago.
[00:04:32] Speaker C: Awesome. And how old are your kids and how many Disney cruise sailings have you guys been on prior to going on the Destiny on this most recent cruise?
[00:04:41] Speaker A: So we have a nine year old daughter, a seven year old daughter and then a son who she just turned seven and then my son is turning three and a couple months.
[00:04:52] Speaker C: Oh my gosh. So really, really. So 9 and 7, so kind of middle elementary age and then almost 3 year old. So a nurs anniversary age. I love that. I love that.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: So they're, they're a little, maybe a little young for this. But are any of them, like big Disney villains fans or big Marvel people? Like, I'm talking about Marvel.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: But like, heading into the cruise, like, given the focus on heroes and villains, like, where would you say your kids were at?
[00:05:22] Speaker A: So my daughter, my second daughter and my son both like Spider Man a lot.
And then my oldest daughter is more of a princess girl, but she and her sister are both really into getting autographs from different Disney characters. And so they didn't have any of the villains, with the exception of the wicked stepsisters that we got at Disney World last year. And so they were super excited to get some villain autographs for their collection.
[00:05:52] Speaker C: Oh, cool. I like that. That's.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Were they able to do that? Were the Villains on board signing things?
[00:05:57] Speaker A: They did both meet and greets in addition, shows that they did or the meet in place that they did.
[00:06:02] Speaker C: Awesome. Well, let's, let's dive in as to how many sailings had you all been on before and why did you book the Destiny in particular?
[00:06:11] Speaker A: So this is our fourth cruise. Our first cruise was on the Magic when I was pregnant with my son.
It was our baby moon. And that's actually what got us into Disney cruising, was I wanted to take a baby moon and I couldn't figure out how to do it with our older kids. And then a cruise sounded like a perfect option when I got an ad for that on my social media.
And so this was. We did a cruise last fall on the Dream and we were like, in the lead up to that cruise and my husband made the mistake of saying, well, maybe we could do another cruise in the spring.
You can like, you know, look into it. I swear, within like 24 hours. I. This cruise like picked out and, and booked.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: I hear, I hear you can look into it as like, you can book it.
[00:06:59] Speaker C: You can book it.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Sam said that to me, I'd be like, okay, I'm booking something.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: And it was the newest ship. I mean, it wasn't out yet, but it was going to be the newest ship. And then it was actually only a couple hundred dollars more than our dream cruise like for this week that we picked. And it was also a good week because it was like right before President's Day and my kids had a couple days off school. And so that was the reason that we picked the specific cruise.
[00:07:23] Speaker C: Awesome. And you picked a five night itinerary, not a four night itinerary on the Destiny was that Just because the dates worked or are you like, I gotta. I can't. I can't fly from California to Florida for anything less than five nights.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: Exactly. If I'm going to Florida, I'm going for at least five nights. I would have preferred to be longer, but of course on the Destiny, they don't give you that option.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: Absolutely. Now, when did you fly into to Florida relative to when you're sailing? When your cruise out of Fort Lauderdale was leaving.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: So we actually stopped in Atlanta first.
We flew into Atlanta the Friday before. This is a Monday to Saturday sailing. So we flew into Atlanta the Friday before. So my kids had wanted to go to the Atlanta Aquarium or the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta ever since we saw a show, a documentary on it during COVID times.
And they wanted to see the whale shark and the beluga whales. And so we flew there first to go to the aquarium. We also went to the center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, which has exhibit on the Muppets, which. I love the Muppets and I know you do too, Sam.
[00:08:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
Why have we not gone there, Brian? I have. No. I did not know. Well, one, I'll be honest, I did not know that Atlanta had like any kind of famous aquarium. We have a great aquarium here in Seattle and there's a great one in Vancouver as well. So I just never really have like thought of Atlanta as a place to go for an aquarium. No, no shade on Atlanta. It's just not something.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: I think it's one in the country.
[00:08:56] Speaker C: Wow, that's really.
Yeah. Okay, well, now it's. I gotta add some stuff to my, my list, my travel list. But obviously I love puppetry and obviously I love the Muppets, so. Yeah, that would be amazing. How. How was. I mean, so did you spend a couple nights in Atlanta then before heading to Florida or. Yeah, or just like two nights.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: And then we flew to Fort Lauderdale Sunday.
[00:09:21] Speaker C: Okay. And you got to tell me how, how was the aquarium and how was the, the puppetry exhibit?
[00:09:28] Speaker A: The aquarium was wonderful. We actually were super lucky because we, we got two day tickets and the first day that we went, the whale shark was like in perfect display and swimming around and we got to see that. And the second day we went and actually hid most of the day. It was like over in the other part where it wasn't visible to, to the guests. So we out. We got to see it on our first try. The beluga whales were like super playful the first day that we went. The second day they were more standoffish. So it was Great that we got to see them kind of the first day and not just the second day. And then my daughter, we went to the dolphin show that they have, like, just a spur of the moment, and we decided to go to their dolphin show. And my daughter actually got picked to be the special kid assistant. I got to pet the dolphin and play fetch with the dolphin. And so she. She loved it.
[00:10:19] Speaker C: That's amazing.
And how are the Muppets?
[00:10:22] Speaker A: I mean, more importantly, the Muppets are wonderful. So at the puppetry museum, they have a show that they do, and they change it periodically.
So the show that we saw was Pete the Cat, and we love Pete
[00:10:36] Speaker C: the Cat, so it was great.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: My daughter, my younger daughter really loved that, and my son was, like, enraptured the whole time.
And then my older daughter thought it was a little boring. She's a little bit too old for it.
But it was great. I mean, they do really cute puppet tricks. And the show was about an hour, and then they have a little make your own puppet thing that we didn't, unfortunately get to do because we went to the exhibits first. But I spent a good at least, like, half hour, 45 minutes in the Muppet exhibit looking at the different things they had. They had, like, a life size Big Bird and, like, quite a few of the Muppets in there and, like, just information about Jim Henson and all the different really cool things that they do.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: I tell you what, Sam, we should. We should see if there's a place where you can go do a custom Muppet in, like, we should do an entire show of us as Muppets. Yeah.
[00:11:21] Speaker C: Oh, my God, Brian. I. There. There is some place, I think, that you can order, like, a custom Muppet of yourself. Like, there's somebody out there who does that. I don't think it's, like, it's. It's not like a licensed Jim Henson, like, Muppet. Right? But, like, I'm pretty sure. But I would love a Muppet of myself. I feel like it should be, like. I feel like my Muppet should be purple. I don't know why, but I feel like it should have, like, a purple face. It's just.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: Yeah, purple. My favorite color. Mine. Purple, too.
[00:11:50] Speaker C: And purple is not my favorite color. I want to be clear. Like, actually, green and blue are my two favorite colors, but I just feel like a purple Muppet is just like, that would. I feel like that would be me. I don't know. I don't know why it just came to me. Oh, I'm so jealous. Jessica. That sounds like an amazing like pre trip stay. Okay, so then you, you're flying from. So you're close. I mean from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, but still a flight, of course. I mean you could drive, but it's a long drive.
Did you go down then the morning of your sailing or did you go the night before?
[00:12:21] Speaker A: The night before, like late the night before.
[00:12:23] Speaker C: And then where did you guys stay in Fort Lauderdale?
[00:12:25] Speaker A: Just one of the Holiday Inns a few miles from the port.
[00:12:29] Speaker C: Now tell us, what did you use for transportation to the port? Did you just like book a Lyft or Uber or did you or did the hotel have a shuttle service or any kind Disney transportation?
[00:12:39] Speaker A: We just took a taxi.
[00:12:40] Speaker C: Super easy. I feel like from all of the hotels down near the port in Fort Lauderdale you are like, you're fine with a taxi, you're fine with an Uber, you're fine with a Lyft. Right? Like it's pretty easy to get to the port. You can't really walk into the port area though. I don't know that they let you do that or if maybe if. I mean it's kind of industrial, kind of entryway anyway. All right, well, so tell us like when did you get to the port? What was your port arrival time? And tell us like how, how long did you wait in the sort of boarding process before getting onto the ship?
[00:13:14] Speaker A: Our taxi took a little bit longer to get than we expected because I had called early and then they forgot about me. So then we got there a little bit later than we intended. I think our port arrival time was like 12:45, but we ended up getting there like right around that time and we weren't like super late to it.
And then once we got are checked in almost immediately and then our boarding group was already called, so we just got to go straight into line to get on the ship.
[00:13:41] Speaker C: Awesome. Now, had you been on a Wish class ship before or was the Destiny your first Wish Class?
[00:13:47] Speaker A: This is our first Wish class.
[00:13:48] Speaker C: Okay. Yeah. So you'd always been on either Dream Class or Magic Class previously.
I mean, it's a very different atrium experience when you walk into the grand hall than when you walk into the atrium on one of the first four ships. What were your first impressions of the grand hall of the Disney Destiny?
[00:14:07] Speaker A: I thought it was beautiful. I loved all the lights and or the lighting that they had. And then the stage area, which is very different from the other ships that we've been on. And yeah, I just thought it was really, really pretty.
[00:14:20] Speaker C: Yeah. Did you see superhero Minnie when you boarded or was somebody else up in the balcony?
[00:14:25] Speaker A: We did see superhero Minnie, but I wasn't. I'm not sure if it was when we boarded or if we saw her like right after we boarded. But yeah, she was definitely there.
[00:14:33] Speaker C: Yeah. There's always like a character. Well, I shouldn't say always. There are times where they're changing out characters, so you might have a little bit of a lag in between characters. But on embarkation day, during boarding time, there's usually a character up in the balcony and not always Hero Minnie, but Hero Minnie is a prominent one on the Destiny, of course.
Well, what did you guys do, like, right after boarding? It's obviously a new ship for you, but were you like, we gotta go get some lunch at Marceline Market.
We gotta go do sit down lunch. We gotta go visit the kids clubs and do kind of orientation check in. Like, what were you. What was your plan of action?
[00:15:13] Speaker A: Unfortunately, we had to go straight to try to get our dining time changed. Cause we were at the later dining and we were trying to get it moved earlier. So that had to be the first.
First thing that we needed to do.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: Were you successful?
[00:15:24] Speaker A: We were. I was actually thinking there was no way that was gonna happen. Cause you could hear little bits of conversation for the people, like, ahead of us, and it sounded like they were saying, well, you know, check your app 15 minutes prior to dinner to see if we were able to change you. And then I got up there and they were like, oh, yeah, we got you taken care of. Yeah, it's fine. And I'm like, but really?
[00:15:46] Speaker C: Yeah. I wonder if those other people were trying to change dining rotations. Right? Like, because they might instead of. Instead of early versus late. So you can make. Like, for those who don't know, you can of course, ahead of time. When you're booking your cruise, you can book early or late dining, depending upon what's available. And early dining tends to be more difficult to get, like, more because a lot of families with young. With young children are looking for that early dining spot. And so that tends to fill up with exceptions. Exceptions being in Europe, late dining tends to be more popular. And in Alaska, late dining tends to be more popular. But in general, in other usa, you know, port cruises, we're talking early dining tends to be the more popular of the two. So if you're booking early, you can always get whatever you want. But if you book. If you didn't book your cruise right away. And obviously, Jessica, for you guys, this was not. You booked only a few months in advance. And so that early dining was probably fully booked. But there are other requests you can make for dining, such as a particular dining rotation. Like I want to start my dining rotation in Lion King. I want to start my dining rotation in 1923, whatever, you know, and those requests might be more difficult to accommodate. Whereas if you're just flexible, I want early versus later, late versus early. That might be a little bit easier. Okay, so you go, you take care of the dining. Where, where do you guys all head next?
[00:17:13] Speaker A: We went to Marceline Market to go get lunch.
[00:17:15] Speaker C: Nice. Now have you ever done sit down lunch or have you always done the buffet, given your kids ages and just trying to get food into them quickly?
[00:17:24] Speaker A: I think we've only done the sit down lunch once on embarkation day.
[00:17:28] Speaker C: How was that experience and have you decided, okay, buffet lunch is going to be our way of our plan of action?
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I think with the kids it's just easier to do the buffet. We've done buffet three times and sit down one time. And the sit down was really nice and relaxing and it was really nice.
I think it's just easier to kind of head up to the buffet and get something quite.
[00:17:54] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it's definitely a longer process and especially with your almost three year old, right? Like he probably doesn't want to sit for that long in the same place and wait to be served his Mac and cheese or whatever he's, whatever he's having for lunch.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: I think even before we went up and got lunch, we ended up there was a Cruella meet and greet on the way and so we stopped into that first. So the kids were very hungry by the time we ended up making our sleep market. I think it was like almost 2 o' clock by this and we ended up making it up there.
[00:18:22] Speaker C: Nice. Nice. Well, tell us, like you mentioned your, your girls were looking forward to getting autographs from, from characters. Was there anyone that you were concerned there might. They might be scared of? Like who might be a little bit too scary or a little too creepy? Like I kind of feel like we've talked about this a little bit. Like Dr. Facilier, I wouldn't necessarily say he's like scary, but he's kind of seductive and creepy. And I didn't, I don't know if you had any concerns about particularly like your 7 year old and your almost 3 year old, your 9 year old probably was fine. But yeah, any concerns about that and, and did they come to fruition if you did?
[00:19:03] Speaker A: I mean usually my husband's pretty good about going with us. And so if like one of them had gotten nervous or wanted to opt out, they could have, they could have just gone to dad and he would have, you know, taken care of it. But no, the kids were pretty good with it. I was probably most nervous about Dr. Facilier, just not knowing what to expect and he does come off a little creepy like you said.
But overall the kids did fine. Even the three, almost three year old did fine meeting the characters and didn't. I mean, my, my son doesn't want to get too close to them and like won't like, won't hug them yet or take pictures with them yet unless I'm holding him. But as far as like, he didn't like cry or you know, get too scared. If anything, he might like bury his face in my shoulder. If he got a little spooked, that was it.
[00:19:53] Speaker B: I'm curious, heading into this cruise, like, how much prep did you do with the kids and like, what were they most excited about on board?
[00:20:01] Speaker A: I don't know that I did any specific prep with them. I think my daughters were just really super excited to be going on a cruise at all and then.
But they were, I think, very excited about.
I got meeting the Villains and my oldest daughter really just isn't interested in Marvel at all. And so she was like, oh, Marvel themed stuff, really.
But as far as like meeting Cruella de Vil and Maleficent, like, she's like, I hope we get to meet them. I really, really want their autographs and I really want to get my picture with them. So she was excited about those opportunities.
[00:20:38] Speaker C: Yeah. Now, did you also sign up for the Royal Gathering, which for those who don't know, the Royal Gathering is a prince greet. It's a call it a ticketed event, which is meaning that you have to sign up for it or register for it in advance through the app. Or potentially you could sign up on board as well if spots are open and it doesn't cost any money. But it is a thing you have to reserve especially for your 9 year old who is really into the princesses. Did you sign up for the Royal Gathering so that she could meet the princesses in addition to the Villains?
[00:21:09] Speaker A: We did not just because we've done it on two previous cruises and she already has all their autographs. So she's, she's fine with it now.
[00:21:15] Speaker C: Gotcha. She's check him off their list. She doesn't need to meet him again is what you're saying.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: She just is looking for Merida at one of the parks at this point. And that's the only one she still needs to cross off.
[00:21:24] Speaker C: Okay, so she's a completionist. She doesn't care about repeating. All right.
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Very much so.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: Did you take, did you consider going on the wish at all? Because you know, that's the, that's the ship of the Princess.
[00:21:34] Speaker C: The Princess ship, yeah.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Three and four nights are a drawback.
[00:21:38] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure, for sure.
[00:21:39] Speaker C: Absolutely. Absolutely. Now I gotta ask about the Kids Club because one of the things that we always talk about with the Wish class is the Kids Club.
Personally, our son thinks that and I think that the Wish class has sort of the best Kids club. The way, the way it's sort of laid out, the different rooms, the different activities, different interactive thing. I mean they bring characters into the. They do that in all the Kids Clubs and across the fleet. But I, I just think they do it the best on the Wish Class. I'm curious. Your two olders were in Oceaneers Club. Your younger is of course a nursery agent. Small world. Nursery age. What did your kids think about the Kids Club? Did they spend any time there? And if so, did they, did they really, did they like the Kids club spaces?
[00:22:27] Speaker A: My 9 year old was kind of not loving the Kids Club on this cruise. I think she's just kind of getting a little old for it and she wasn't really that eager to go. She wanted to spend more time by herself and reading and doing other things. My 7 year old loved the Kids Club. We could hardly get her out of it. And there were a couple times when I tried to take her to different things in the atrium and she would just run off and go down the slide,
[00:22:58] Speaker C: See?
[00:22:59] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:23:00] Speaker C: She was, yeah, that's I, that was how Nathan was at that age. I feel like at like, like eight, I think was kind of the perfect, like seven. Eight is kind of the perfect age for the Oceaneers Club as they get to be 9 and 10. They do tend to, I feel like kind of end age, which is, I have to say in retrospect, you know, I was annoyed when Disney changed the age of the Kids Club and made it, you know, till 10 and then they made the tween club started 11. It used to be that the Oceaneer Club went till age 12 and so you could go to either the Tween Club or the Oceaneers Club if you were 11 or 12.
But actually now seeing Nathan as a 12 year old and even when he was a 10 and 11 year old, like he does fit more in that tween category and was less interested in the. Although there are still some. He still loves stitches, Space goo and a couple other things they do at the Oceaneers Club.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: Oh my God. If we could get no more stitches. Space goo.
[00:23:58] Speaker C: Yeah. We never Stitches Space goo. I just want to put a hard no on. Space goo does not come home with us. Nathan knows that he's allowed to make it on the ship, but it's not coming home with us. There's no, no slime is allowed in the duo household whatsoever. It's just a. It's forboden.
So, okay, so the 7 year old loved the kids club. What about the. What about your toddler? Did he enjoy the nursery or is he more of I'm. I don't want to let go of mom and dad.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: We've put him on in the nursery on previous cruises and he was never thrilled about it. He doesn't go to daycare. My husband's a stay at home dad, so he, he doesn't go to daycare. He stays either with us or with grandparents and that's it.
And so he was not thrilled when we took him to. We call it the baby club.
And we did take him a few times because I thought he was too young for the shows and wasn't gonna stay still or you know, he was gonna act out. So we would make the reservations so that we could enjoy the shows without a toddler and we would get them notifications from the club saying like, we are trying to calm him down, we are doing our best. And we'd be like, oh, this isn't good.
[00:25:14] Speaker C: That means he doesn't wanna sl.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: They did figure out after a couple of attempts that if they put on the Cars movie that he would, he would watch it would like sullenly and like not be thrilled, but he would at least like watch it. And one of the caregivers was like, he was narrating it for me. He was telling me what was going to happen in the movie because he'd watched it so many times.
So at least we were able to feel like not too bad about taking him. But on this cruise he immediately was like, no baby club. No baby club.
And he just did not want to go at all. And so my husband's like, let's just like, let's take him to the shows, see how he does. And like, we'll just see if we can not take him and not like make him upset and stress him out on this cruise.
[00:26:03] Speaker C: No, I mean, I get that like not every kid is A Kids club kid. And the younger ones are just harder with that. Especially when. Especially younger kids who aren't used to going to like a daycare environment. I think that that definitely adds a layer of stranger discomfort, I will say. Nathan was an avid cars movie watcher from the time he was little as well. So that was, that was.
[00:26:30] Speaker A: It's just down the hall from the kids Club. So every time we'd have to like walk by in order to pick up the older kids at Kids Club, he'd be like, no baby club. No Baby Club.
Like, no, no, we're not. We're just gonna go get your sisters. Like, we're not gonna take you in there.
[00:26:44] Speaker C: Oh my God, that's so funny. I wonder when he. So when he's three and he can go to the kids Club with big sisters, like, I wonder if he will be more open to that.
[00:26:56] Speaker A: He wants to go to the biggest club. Cause we took him to one of the toddler times in the kids Club.
[00:27:03] Speaker C: The Mickey and mini room.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
The room off of the main kids Club. And he had a ball he love like doing little bowling. He was climbing on the structures and he'd be like, no, no baby club. I want to go big. Big kids club.
[00:27:18] Speaker C: Oh yeah. So that might be an easier transition once he. Once he turns three.
For those who don't know if your child is age three and they're potty trained, they can go to the Oceaneers Club. If they're age 3 and they're not potty trained, they can still go to the nursery. It's only when they turn four that you don't have a choice anymore that you know it's Oceaneers Club or nothing. So. All right, well, let's talk about some other stuff you all did as a family. Did you. You mentioned you went to some. The meet and greets where the characters would give the signature and take a picture. Did you do like the Dr. Facilier parlor activity? Which of course, as we know when we've talked about on the show, long lines. So if so. So yeah. Did you. Were you able to do that and were you able to do it with the kids?
[00:28:11] Speaker A: We did.
So I went and sat in line for a while with like one or two of the kids. And then my husband came with the other kids. Later, once we got closer to the front and we did go in, we were one of the last groups to go. So we waited for a while, but my daughter, my oldest daughter kind of pronounced it like it was kind of boring. My younger ones I think. I don't know that they didn't care for it either way. They weren't particularly scared or, you know, really interested in it. My husband actually was one of the ones called up to the. To the table.
He wasn't the one that, like, he ended up doing the trick with, but he got called up to the table and was like, God, what is it with this trip? My dog Ruby gets called up to do the dolphin show. Now my husband gets picked to do the doctor facilitate. It was just kind of funny.
[00:29:00] Speaker C: I take it then, you and your husband enjoyed it, but the kids were kind of less. It sounds like the kids were less interested in it.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: I think my husband didn't like being put on the spot. He doesn't really like.
I think he was kind of like, what did you get me into?
I was just sitting there, standing there in the corner, being like,
[00:29:20] Speaker C: well, did you think that Dr. Facilier was good?
I thought the one that we saw. I think you probably saw the same one we did because they just changed over the cast in the last week or two, and you went just a few weeks ago, so you would have gone probably right before the cast changeover. I thought he was excellent.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: He was.
We had done the meet and greet with him already before we did the parlor.
And, you know, he asked us like, well, do you have a wish that I could make or come true? And, well, first off, I told him.
I was like, how can you turn my. My son into a frog?
And then he was like, well, do you have a wish that I could make true? And I'm like, well, can you make this cruise seven nights instead of five? And he's like, I can make it last forever.
Like, okay, well, I don't know if I want that, but I don't know
[00:30:11] Speaker C: if I want to stay forever. But, yeah, no, that's funny. They're. They. Yeah, they're. He's really, really good.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: They are really, really amazing at improv. They do a wonderful job.
[00:30:22] Speaker B: Did you find that they were like, the. Like, which villains did you end up meeting? So you met Dr. Facilier. Who else?
[00:30:27] Speaker A: We met Dr. Facilier. We met Maleficent. We met Cruella. We. We did miss Loki. So we didn't. We didn't get to meet him.
[00:30:34] Speaker B: Did you find the actors kind of playing to the kids? Because this is something I was, like, wondering is, like, their ability to sort of calibrate to the.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: The.
[00:30:41] Speaker B: The kid level a little bit?
[00:30:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I think they did. I mean, they were still came off Dr. Facilier. Still came off really creepy. When we met Maleficent, I, you know, my kids don't really care for the character interactions. They're in it for, like, the pictures and the autographs.
But I, like, talked to Maleficent and I was like, my daughter had just had her birthday, like, a week before, and I was like, my daughter would like to invite you to her birthday party. And she's like, wise choice. You learned from Dr. Or from King Hubert's mistakes.
[00:31:16] Speaker C: They're so good. Like, like you said at the improv, I mean, they just sort of come on coming up with this stuff on the fly, right? Like playing into their, their backstory, right. That. That's the one thing you, you have to, like, give them a ton of credit for because they really have to know the character so that they can. So they don't say something that's inconsistent with what their movie version of themselves would. Would, you know, do or say. But they have to be able to play into, you know, somebody giving them sort of new information. Right.
[00:31:44] Speaker A: And so I enjoy playing with the characters much more than my kids do.
[00:31:48] Speaker C: Yeah, clearly. I love that. Now, did you go to the Maleficent Under Her Spell show in Saga?
[00:31:56] Speaker A: I did, but I went by myself because I couldn't pull my kids away from the pool deck.
[00:32:02] Speaker C: Totally understand. What did you think of, of that? Obviously, it ends in a meet and greet if you want to do that. If you' on the bottom floor in Saga. If you're on the upper floor in Saga, you don't get to participate in the meet and greet. But it's a show where she does, you know, kind of tell us part of the story of Maleficent and does kind of a spell with some audience interaction. What did you, what did you think of that show?
[00:32:24] Speaker A: I thought it was fun. I liked it.
[00:32:26] Speaker C: Yeah, I liked it as well. I'm guessing you didn't get to do Troublemaking with Cruella.
[00:32:32] Speaker A: I did. I ran off and left the kids with my husband and I was like, I'm gonna go, like, off and do this for a little bit and I'll be back.
[00:32:41] Speaker C: Yeah. Good job.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: Very, very good.
[00:32:44] Speaker C: That's awesome. Well, I mean, he's a stay at home dad, so he's used to being with the kids. I love that now. Okay, so what did you think of Trep? What did you think of the space? Of course, because Deville's Lounge is, I think, beautiful. But then also, what'd you think of the show?
[00:33:01] Speaker A: It's beautiful, but it's just so Small. It's much smaller than I expected. I mean, I didn't expect it to be huge, but it's. It's. It's quite small. So if you don't get there early, like, you, like. I had to like go sit in a corner and then somebody else left. So then I went and like got to sit at their table that they had vacated. But.
But yeah, I felt like it was in the way at first because I was like. And then Zion Gamble, like run in and are like almost like falling over me because I'm like kind of in, I guess in the pathway a little bit.
So, yeah, I. It's. It can be quite crowded if you don't get that. Really.
[00:33:37] Speaker C: For sure. For sure. What did you think of the show? I mean, what did you think of Zion Gamble and of course of Cruella and just the end of the Piano Player? I mean, the whole interaction with the audience participation aspect is completely new. I mean, they don't do that on other.
It's. There are experiences on the Treasure now and on the Destiny, but not really on the rest of the fleet. And having only sailed on, you know, the older ships, this is a much more interactive, different experience. What did you think of that?
[00:34:07] Speaker A: I couldn't see some of it because the sight lines were not good from my location. So that was unfortunate. But I could hear everything and it was quite funny.
They were asking for ideas for this song that we were going to write for Cruella Duvalny's new theme song.
And it was a lot of fun hearing the suggestions from people, having them work it in to make the song.
[00:34:30] Speaker C: Yes, I love that. I think it's really smart for the. Instead of just being like a show with performers, you know, performing for you, the audience participation aspect I think really gets more buy in right from the audience and it get. It makes it just a more. I don't know, it's a more immersive experience and it makes it, I think, more fun.
[00:34:52] Speaker A: And you can do more than once because it'll be different each time you go.
[00:34:55] Speaker C: Exactly. It's totally repeatable now. Certain. I think the Maleficent one is probably less repeatable. Not saying it isn't. You know, there is some interaction with the audience member, but it's pretty. Probably pretty similar each time, but. Yeah, but the Cruella show, I think is more repeatable.
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[00:36:11] Speaker C: I'm also curious if you went to the the fashion show, the girls fashion show that happens in the grand hall on the Destiny as well, because that one is also a very audience participation interactive. I don't know if you're, if your kiddos were willing to dress up and participate if they were again on the pool deck. But yeah. Were you able to.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: I did go with my older daughter.
We did not dress up. I don't think I even knew that. Like there was the dress up, so I didn't bring any costumes for that.
My daughter was like, yeah, she's like, she was too nice to some of those people because they didn't really try very hard. And like she was still saying nice things about.
[00:36:54] Speaker C: Well, she is. Right. And that's, I think, the point that Brian was making about calibrating to the younger, you know, the family crowd. Right. Like, I do think that Cruella on the ship is maybe not quite as mean as you expect her to be. Right.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: She's, she's definitely probably the most approachable, I think, of the villains.
[00:37:16] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. Because I think we were going to
[00:37:18] Speaker A: meet Loki, but we didn't get a chance to meet Loki.
[00:37:20] Speaker C: Sure. Loki is, he's a mix, Right. Because he's the sort of, he's a villain, but he's an antihero too. So he can kind of play to a little bit of both. For those who are deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he is also a her same time as being a villain. So it's, he's got those two Sides. But yeah, I. Absolutely. I think Cruella is. You're not really afraid that she's going to kidnap your puppies and skin them for her coat. She's actually much more nice. Maybe she's more of that misunderstood villain like in the live action Cruella movie with Emma Stone, I think. But. All right, well, okay, so you, you didn't get to meet Loki. You mentioned. Did you go to any of the, like, atrium.
Other of the atrium shows, like the Legend of Loki or Celebration of a King, where you've got t' Challa or Loki and you get to sort of see them and hear their stories.
[00:38:14] Speaker A: So we went to a Celebration of the King and then we also went to the Sleeping Beauty and Princess and the Frog.
[00:38:19] Speaker C: Oh, nice. So you got to see a lot of the storyteller stuff, which is, you know, Ziya and Gamble retell the princess and a frog in a very silly way involving cooking.
And then they also retell the story of Sleeping Beauty in the atrium with audience participation. And it's also hilarious. I think those are also quite repeatable because again, with the audience participation, it's gonna be like, at least somewhat different. Not like 100% different, but somewhat different each time. What was your impression of those? And. And did your kiddos come to see any of those?
[00:38:54] Speaker A: I really liked them all. I thought they were great. My kids came to all three of them. I don't remember all the kids came to all three, but I think a couple. I know my son was there for all of them and then at least one of my older kids was there for. For each of them. And I think that my oldest didn't like the Celebration of the King because she's not a Marvel kid.
And then.
But I think both of them liked the Princess and the Frog and the Sleeping Beauty. And my daughter actually was one of the ones they called on for kind of Mad Libs that they do for the Princess and the Frog. And so she was one of the kids they called on to give a suggestion for, for an animal or a noun. And she said, mom, Mom. So mom gets it put in there somehow.
[00:39:45] Speaker C: I love it. I love it. Awesome. I think those are actually those two retellings. The Sleeping Beauty and Princess and Frog are very kid focused and family focused. I'd say those are like much more so than Celebration of a King or Legend of Loki. They're much more aimed at that younger crowd and that family than sort of the Marvel themed stuff across the ship. Yeah.
[00:40:11] Speaker A: We also did the Spider man hero training too, in the oh, well.
[00:40:15] Speaker C: And you said your younger ones are big Spidey fans now. Spider Man. I think the, the, I think the reason why Spider man is now so prominent in the across Disney cruise line is really because of that, like, Spider man and Friends cartoon and the Spider man into the spider. Into the. Was into the spider verse. Right. Like the, the cartoon versions of Spider man have become very popular with the younger crowd. Yeah.
What did your kiddos think of that hero training? Did they do all their poses and all of their dancing with Spider Man?
[00:40:49] Speaker A: Yeah. My oldest, again, was pouting because she doesn't like Marvel stuff, but my younger two really liked it. And my youngest, my son was liking Spider Man. Spider Man.
I'm super excited.
[00:41:01] Speaker C: Did they get their picture and did they get an autograph from Spider man as well?
[00:41:04] Speaker A: We did not do that this time because my little one doesn't do like, really the character stuff. Like we. I tried on the last night with Minnie Mouse at the last event and he said that he would go and hug her and then he like, of course buried his head and was like. Or like hiding behind my legs the whole time and wouldn't go up and say hi to her or give her a hug. So.
[00:41:26] Speaker C: So yeah, I don't blame him. Like, they have huge heads, right. They're not like normal looking. I mean, I love Mickey and Minnie and I want to hug from them. And, and Donald and Daisy and Goofy and Pluto. Right.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: Minnie gave me a very nice hug. I prefer the face characters, though.
[00:41:42] Speaker C: Yeah, see, and I, I prefer the head characters, actually, not the base characters. But I, but I understand from like a toddler's perspective, they are looking up at this ginormous thing with this ginormous head. Right? Like, I, I might be a little scared if I was in your toddler's position too. So, I mean, it's like the same thing even with Santa Claus. Right? Like, people love these pictures of their toddlers, like, screaming like, get me away from this stranger. Who is Santa Claus?
[00:42:13] Speaker A: You know, on our first cruise, my, we met Spider Man. My daughter was actually about a year older than my son is now, and we were like the last people in line. So she was like, she really wanted to meet Spider man, but she was really scared, you know, at the same time. And he did everything he could to like, try to get her to like, come out of her shell. He was like hanging off the railing. And like, he wrote like a very nice, like, autograph in her book with like, you know, dear Rosie, you know, keep on web slinging and Was like, just really sweet. The characters are so nice.
[00:42:49] Speaker C: They are. They're so good. They do a really, really good job with their casting. I feel like even. Even Spider Man's voice, I don't know if you paid attention to his voice, but he is really, really, really good. On the Destiny, I did one of the meet and greets. I went to that hero training, but I also did one of the meet and greets, and I was super impressed with the way he was doing. Peter Parker's voice was, yeah, super, super good. Love it. All right, well, you had not been on a Wish class trip before, so you had, you know, not yet experienced, like, the rotational dining that is on the Wish class, which includes, of course, 1923 Worlds of Marvel and new to the fleet, Pride Lands, which is the Lion King themed restaurant. I gotta ask what you thought of the. What. What you thought of the food? The food quality, but also the theming, and then, of course, what your kiddos thought of all three restaurants.
[00:43:49] Speaker A: I think that we weren't quite as impressed with the food quality on this cruise compared to some of our other cru. Although we've kind of been disappointed on our last couple of cruises, unfortunately, with the food. Although we did really like a couple of the dishes we had in Pride Lands, and it was nice that we had, like, something a little bit different on this ship. I think the theming was great in both Pridelands, but also Marvel. My daughters love the trivia.
It was our first night on the cruise and we did that. And while my oldest, again, not a Marvel fan, so she was like, oh, Marvel, do we have to go to this?
She ended up really having fun with pushing the buttons and making it light up.
My middle daughter loved it and had the best time with that.
[00:44:38] Speaker C: Love that. Awesome. And then did you all like 1923? It's obviously the sort of. I mean, it's themed, but it's not. It's themed for us Disney adults. I would say, like, it's the, you know, classic movies and animation and models and whatnot.
But it also gives that 1920s, you know, old Hollywood feel.
What did you guys think of that theming?
[00:45:01] Speaker A: From our location, we really couldn't see much of the memorabilia, so I didn't think that I really got to see, you know, I've heard, you know, really great things about it, but I didn't get to see very much and I didn't really take the time to look around the restaurant, like at the end of the meal or before the meal to see if there was Anything else we could see.
[00:45:18] Speaker C: Now, what did you think of Pride Lands in terms of the show there? And I'm very curious as to whether or not it kept the attention of your kids.
[00:45:28] Speaker A: I was a little worried it was going to be too loud because I'd heard that that had been an issue. So we did bring our kids headphones to the meal just in case they needed it. My middle daughter is especially sensitive to loud noise, so I was worried that she was going to be really upset if it was too loud for her. But she didn't end up wearing them, so we didn't end up needing them. We were actually right off the stage, but we had a pillar that was kind of blocking some of our view, which was unfortun. But I really liked it. You don't really need to see it because it's not like that kind of show per se. But I really like hearing the singing during the meal. And I thought it was just a really nice accompaniment.
[00:46:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I think the decor is really compliments it as well. Because you're right, it's not a show necessarily that you have to watch because it's not like watching a play. Right. It's more storytelling. So it's more about like, hearing the music. There is some dance and there's of course, some drumming that are nice to see. But you don't have to have a great view in order to enjoy it, the show. But I think the atmosphere also sort of adds to it. Right. Like, it enhances the experience that you've got all these, you know, decorations on the walls and these sort of windows where you might see like, Timon and Pumbaa or like some other animals.
[00:46:42] Speaker A: But I really like the hallway. Walking into Pride Lands, I thought it was really well decorated.
[00:46:47] Speaker C: Yeah, it's beautiful.
[00:46:48] Speaker A: It's a very long hallway.
[00:46:49] Speaker C: It is a long hallway. It's the same as on so on the Wish and on the Treasure. It's the same hallway. It's exact same shape room and the. So. But on the Wish, I actually think is kind of the best. Does the best job with that hallway. Because you know how in. In Arendelle, in the. Well, in the movie in Frozen, where Anna starts talking to all the portraits on the wall, right when she's kind of stuck in the. In the house by herself until they open the gates. Well, it's just like that. You're walking down the hallway and you see all these different portraits. And it's all the portraits that Anna talks to. And so it's. I think actually it's one things that I actually think is perhaps better on the wish than on the treasure and the destiny, which is very, very limited number of things that I could say that about, but that's maybe one of them. That hallway is because it is a very long hallway. And so getting to see at least some. Some cool artwork on the way down is. Is nice. All right, well, we would be remiss if I, of course, didn't ask you about the shows.
Sounds like you were able to bring your toddler even to the shows. Yeah.
Did you go to all three?
What was your impression and what were the kids impressions?
[00:48:06] Speaker A: So we were testing it out the first night with CC Adventures. Since it is a shorter show, we're like, we'll see how it goes and see if he is okay with it or not. And he did fine. He watched the whole thing. He was either. He might have been in his seat for part of it, but he was on my lap for part of it too.
But it kept his attention, and he was perfectly happy the whole time.
I liked it. I thought it was fine. It wasn't my favorite show, but it. It was good.
And then the next show was then Hercules, which we got in line an hour before. We were actually the first people in line for. For the show.
Yeah. But when we got in the theater, like, there were so many, like, concierge people in there that we couldn't even find a place where all five of us could sit together. Like, had, like, a decent view that wasn't, like, off to one side or the other.
And one concierge group in particular had a bunch of seats that they were holding for people that weren't there, that were not.
[00:49:06] Speaker C: That were not concierge. That's what they were doing.
[00:49:09] Speaker A: Well, they were supposed to do, like, two or three, like, sections or three rows in a section on each row that they were trying to hold with, like, maybe four people. And I was like, no. They said, no safe seats. No safe seats. And I just, like, walked right past her side down.
The person behind me gave me a high five.
[00:49:28] Speaker C: Um, like, I gotta say, like, I have no problem if you're saving, like, one or two seats for, like, your kids who are getting popcorn or in the bathroom or they're just coming from dinner. Right. Like, you raced. You. You went there early to get in line. Right. Like, but, like, you can't save, like, two rows for people. Like, that's not cool. You're not, like, as you said, Jessica, you're actually not allowed to save seats. But I think nobody Will like, sort of look at you sideways if you're saving one or two seats, especially because a lot of the time you do have somebody waiting in line for popcorn
[00:50:00] Speaker A: or bathrooms or whatever. I mean, things come up, that's fine. But, yeah, not like whole rows of seats. And so we sat down and the people were, like, grumbling and complaining, but the people that they were saving the seats for either didn't show up at all or showed up five minutes before the showtime. And the ushers at some point were just like, no, you have to let these people sit here. And yeah, so the people were grumbling, but, yeah, get there at least by the time that the doors open if they're going to sit. Safe seats.
Or just right after, maybe, but not right before showtime. Come on.
[00:50:33] Speaker C: Exactly, exactly. Well, what did you think of Hercules?
[00:50:37] Speaker A: I loved it.
I loved the Muses. I thought it was just really well put together. I have a background in. I did high school theater, so I'm not a pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I certainly have an appreciation for theater. My husband's not a big musicals fan.
I've actually had to trick him to go to musicals in the past.
But how did you trick him?
[00:51:00] Speaker C: Wait, wait. I need to know your secrets, Jessica. How did you trick him?
[00:51:03] Speaker B: Yeah, she needs to put me on mute so she can hear me.
[00:51:05] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Brian, earmuffs.
[00:51:07] Speaker A: Well, when we were dating, I used to go to these shows at this, like, theater not too far away from us in Balboa park in San Diego.
And I just told him that we bought. I bought tickets to a play and we were going to go to a play, and he was fine with plays, but I neglected to leave out the
[00:51:22] Speaker C: play to mention that it was a
[00:51:23] Speaker A: musical until he read on the program like a musical, and he was like, what did he do?
He sat there and he behaved himself, but he wasn't happy with me, but he married me anyway.
[00:51:36] Speaker C: So, you know, Brian is similar. He would prefer to go to a play over a musical. I'm always, you know, I'm always team musical. Not that I. I enjoy plays as well, but I. Yeah, musicals are certainly number one on the list. All right, well, what. What about Frozen? Did you go see Frozen on board?
[00:51:55] Speaker A: We had seen Frozen once before, but we went to see it again, and I thought it was a little bit better on this one versus the previous one, but I thought it was also very good, very well done.
[00:52:05] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's always like, you know, nuances in. In the different casts. Right. You Might have. Like all of the casts across Disney Cruise Line are wonderful, but Destiny 1 cast, you're talking like cream of the crop performers, right? Like all, whenever they launch a new ship, that first cast, they one, had like the most time to rehearse of any cast. And two are. They are generally the cream of the crop, right? Like they. They can get some performers for that first cast that might not be willing to come for a later cast. And so I will. I stand by the notion that the first cast is usually of the stage performers. It's not the same of the restaurants and things like that.
They're usually the.
On. On the whole, are there. There are always going to be standouts in every cast, but on the whole, the. The first cast for any newly launched ship is. Is. Is going to be number one. Yeah.
[00:53:04] Speaker A: Yeah. When we booked it, that was one of the things I kind of like counted out and like, I think it'll still be the first cast.
[00:53:09] Speaker C: Yeah, we got to see Corey J. Bradford as Hercules and yeah, fantastic cast. Yeah. Such a great cast. All right, well, what have we missed? Your kids, you mentioned that your kids spent some time on the pool deck. How. What did they. Did they enjoy?
Are they big pool kids? Kid soup?
[00:53:27] Speaker A: They really, really enjoyed just sitting in the pools and watching Funnel Vision. They loved that. And my youngest was in the splash pad a lot of the time and he really liked the little mini kid slides in the splash pad that he got to go on.
[00:53:40] Speaker C: Yeah, the little Toy Story themed splash pad on the wish classes is nice.
[00:53:45] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:53:47] Speaker C: Have we missed anything? Were there other things you guys did? Are the kids into any of the, like the family trivias or family game shows or anything like. Like that?
[00:53:54] Speaker A: We did not really get to do any of that because my. I think my youngest obviously is too young and we didn't want to put him in the baby. The dreaded baby club.
So we didn't really get to do any of those types of activities. And I don't know that we're really big trivia people. Anyway. I actually stopped by the Muppet trivia that they had going on when we were in line for Dr. Facilier's parlor. And I'm like, wow, I do not know any of these answers. So I'm probably just not like a trivia person. I did watch some of the Hercules trivia when I was in line for something else in the outside of Saga, I guess, and I knew a couple of those answers, but it was like the day after we had just watched the Hercules musical. So it was kind of like cheating.
We got some of the answers from. From the show. The night from.
[00:54:39] Speaker C: From the show. Yeah. Well, I will say the fa. There are some family game shows I'm gonna. This is for probably a year or two from now when your littlest one is a little bit older. But like the family game show is not the trivia.
You might get a kick out of those. Those are the ones where you're interactive and you're like, you know, how well do you know your family member and things like that.
Those can be really fun and they're not really trivia based or they're like very much more general and less hardcore trivia based.
[00:55:09] Speaker A: I did take the kids to the haunted mansion parlor and they like my oldest, of course, again, underwhelmed. She was like going on teenager years.
[00:55:22] Speaker C: She's a nine year old going on 15 year old.
[00:55:24] Speaker A: Going on 15, you know, so that's just to be expected.
My. But they all like the fish in the fish tank.
I think my middle kid was probably the one that was kind of looking around the most and most interested in everything. My little one, like when it kind of progressively gets darker and like the lights start flickering and stuff, he would like kind of bury his head in my shoulder shoulder and be like, spooky, spooky mama.
And then when it like all the, this cycle ends and it restarts and it gets, you know, light again, then he turned to me, he's like, not spooky mama.
It's just really funny how he was like, oh, like it's not spooky anymore. But like then the fish went away and then he was upset that he couldn't see the fish.
[00:56:08] Speaker B: I'm curious, what were your kids favorite things? Did they say like, did they have a favorite?
[00:56:12] Speaker A: I think my second daughter would definitely say the kids club was her favorite.
I think both of my girls really, really like the pool deck. And, and that was probably their favorite thing besides again, the kids club.
And then my youngest also really liked the splash pad. I would say their favorite things were probably mostly up there.
[00:56:31] Speaker C: Yeah, that makes sense. That's the. I mean these are the same things on the wish class that enter or the same things on the older classes of ships that entertain. The kids are the same things that are going to. I mean.
Yeah, I mean that well, and that's. I think that brings me to the ultimate question and one of the things that we, you know, one of the reasons why we wanted to have you and others like you on the show is to figure out, like, is there enough for little kids on the Destiny to entertain them? Right. Because obviously it's a ship that's more focused on heroes and villains and a lot of Marvel focus that maybe those kids are not going to be as into, you know, and all three of your kids have sort of different levels of interest in these various things. But, yeah. Did you find that there was enough in the five days to do. Do to entertain all three of the kids?
[00:57:24] Speaker A: I think the basic things are going to be the same on all the ships. Right. And so, like the kids club, the, you know, pool deck. I mean, not the same the same, but like, generally, you know, the. The same availability of things. And so, you know, that's going to be enough for most kids.
And yeah, I don't know that they would want to, like, repeat, like, the Death Cell Destiny a lot of times, because, again, they've met the characters. That's kind of the thing that they were interested in specifically about the Destiny.
But as far as if they maybe continued to change, maybe the villains that they have, instead of having Maleficent and Cruella, I mean, they're always gonna have Cruella because of devils. But what about the Evil Queen or what, like Hades or Mother Gothel? Could they introduce different villains? Is it going to be the same villains for years, or are they going to switch it up at some point and maybe also change up some of the shows that Zaya and Gammel do?
I'm sure that some of those things will end up being very repeatable depending on how they choose to mix it up dynamic down the road.
[00:58:41] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, they don't expect that every family is going to be on like, that. Your family's going to go in the Destiny five times in one year. Right. Like, they know that, like, they're like, you're going to go on the Destiny once in a year, and then you might go back a couple of years later on that ship. You might hit a couple other ships in the meantime. Right. So I think that, you know, there is definitely opportunity for them to change out. They're not going to change out the villains in the first year. There's no question. Right. They're going to use the things that they've already created and imagineered.
But, like, yeah, maybe a couple years from now, they may change up or add some villains, you know, take some away, change up some of the Marvel offerings as well. Like, that's. There's definitely those possibilities. And, you know, they can sort of shuffle things across the fleet I'm not sure.
You know, that ship will always be a heroes and villains themed ship and also. And will always have a lot of marvel on it. But you're right, there is opportunity to kind of switch some things. Things up, but. Well, Brian, I think we've reached that point in the show.
[00:59:47] Speaker B: I think we have. So, Jessica, I am going to hand you back over to Sam for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and more than a dash of judgment or the round we know as rapid fire. Sam, take it away.
[00:59:58] Speaker C: All right, Jessica, you knew this was coming. I'm going to ask you some Disney favorites and then some Disney Cruise Line favorites. And of course, with your Disney Cruise Line answers, you're limited to answers answering with ships that you have already been on, so you can't answer with something off of the wish or the treasure limited to ships you've experienced yourself. So we're going to start, though, with your favorite Disney character, and Disney means anything and everything that Disney owns.
[01:00:24] Speaker A: Oh, we already talked about the Muppets, so Muppets are my favorite. But specifically from the Muppets, I would say Kermit, Gonzo, and Animal or municipality favorite. And then if we're talking just like regular Disney, then I would go Sebastian.
[01:00:38] Speaker C: Oh, I love that. Yeah. Well, I listen, it's a great trio. I would sub out Fozzie Bear, though. I would put Fozzie Bear and Gonzo and Kermit.
[01:00:47] Speaker A: He's a little too cringe dad joke. I love.
[01:00:49] Speaker C: I love his cringy dad jokes. I would take Animal. Yeah, I. I would take Animal out because he's just a little too, like, psycho for me, but.
But I love Gonzo and love Kermit, so. All right, well, favorite Disney movie.
[01:01:06] Speaker A: I'm gonna have to go with Muppet Christmas Carol. I was really racking my brain this morning trying to think of what one would be. The one I would say, but Muppet Christmas Carol and I can watch over and over again in the holiday season, obviously, and just love it.
[01:01:20] Speaker C: All right, favorite Disney song again.
[01:01:23] Speaker A: If we're going Muppets, then Rainbow Connection. If we're going non Muppets, then I would say under the seat.
[01:01:29] Speaker C: Awesome. Both great options. All right, we're going to shift over to Disney Cruise Line, and I've got to ask. I've got to start with shows.
As a recovering theater person, middle school and high school theater person myself, I got to ask you, what is your favorite Disney stage, main stage show on Disney Cruise Line from the ones you've seen?
[01:01:53] Speaker A: I think I gotta give it to Hart Hercules.
[01:01:54] Speaker C: It's so good, right?
[01:01:56] Speaker A: It was really good.
[01:01:57] Speaker C: Yeah. And you've seen Beauty and the Beast, so.
[01:02:00] Speaker A: I didn't love Beauty and the Beast as much as you do. Yeah.
[01:02:03] Speaker C: Oh, my God.
[01:02:04] Speaker A: It wasn't my favorite. I think if I had to pick a second favorite, it would probably be Tangled.
[01:02:09] Speaker C: Well, Tangled is wonderful too. I can't. I can. I can't fault you for putting Tangled second, but I love Beauty and the Beast. I just think it's an amazing staging, but. All right, well, moving on, let's shift over to favorite onboard activity. What's a favorite activity that you like to do? You could. This could be solo. It could be with the family, But I don't want your kids favorite activity. I want your favorite activity.
[01:02:31] Speaker A: I do like the characters as far as when I get to, like, talk to the face characters. I mean, I'm not like a gna hug or, like, picture, but, like, when I get to interact with them, I think it's.
[01:02:40] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, like, inviting Maleficent to your kids birthday party. I love it. I love it. All right, what about dining? We got to talk rotational dining first. Which rotational dining restaurant that you've eaten in is your favorite?
[01:02:53] Speaker A: Are we talking just the Destiny or any ship?
[01:02:56] Speaker C: No, any of the ships. Any of the ships you've been on
[01:02:59] Speaker A: probably go with Tangled again.
[01:03:01] Speaker C: Yeah. I love Rapunzel's Royal table on the Disney Magic. What a great one. Okay, shifting to food. I gotta ask. A favorite sweet item and a favorite savory item on a Disney cruise. It could be from your Destiny cruise, but it could be from a previous cruise. Let's start with the sweets because we saved the best for last, and the savor are the best. So what's a favorite sweet item?
[01:03:22] Speaker A: Well, in Prance, we had a really, really good pineapple upside down cake. I really like that.
[01:03:27] Speaker C: Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah. That's on that second night menu that we have not had yet. So I'm. I'm jealous. I. I love a pineapple upside down cake, so.
All right, what about favorite savory item?
[01:03:39] Speaker A: Well, I was also making notes from Pride Lands again. So they had this hand pie on the appetizers that was both my husband and I really, really like that. And then they had a braced short rib that I thought was really good too.
[01:03:53] Speaker C: Yeah, we've been hearing. We've been hearing about this short rib, and Brian has not gotten a chance to eat it. But that's like. I feel like if there's a short rib on a menu, that Brian's ordering it. That's. That's pretty. That's his thing. That's his jam.
All right, well, what about favorite place to relax on the ship?
[01:04:11] Speaker A: Yeah, just nice to be on the pool deck. And if. Especially when I'm not the one that's, like, following my, like, little one around at the splash pad, because then I can either relax in the pool or if I want to, like, sit on a lounge chair and, like, read while the others are in the pool, then that's great, too.
[01:04:28] Speaker C: Awesome.
That's why I give kudos to those lifeguards on the pool deck, because they're watching the kids in the pool and I could lay in the lounger. I love it. Absolutely. All right, well, now I have to ask you the most important question, which is which one is your favorite ship? Remind us of the ships that you've been on and then tell us which one is your favorite.
[01:04:50] Speaker A: So our first ship was the Magic. Then we went on the Fantasy, and then we went on the Dream last fall, and then now the Destiny.
So I really, really like the Destiny. That's probably number one. But a close second is actually the Magic. And we didn't like the. The Dream. Plus, by the.
They're still great, but they're just not our favorites.
[01:05:11] Speaker C: But you did love the Midship Detective Agency.
[01:05:14] Speaker A: Yes, although I never completed it. I did the Muppet one and I got, like, probably ⅓ or 3/4 of the way through it, and then we didn't finish.
[01:05:22] Speaker C: That's shameful. Jessica, I'm disappointed in you.
[01:05:26] Speaker B: And you're really. You saved the judgment on our last guest.
[01:05:32] Speaker D: I apologize.
[01:05:33] Speaker A: We go see, like, Pepe's.
[01:05:37] Speaker C: Yes.
[01:05:37] Speaker A: And we love some of those touches. Those are wonderful.
[01:05:40] Speaker C: They're so good. It's so good.
I love the Midship Detective Agency. And it's really. I mean, part of it is because I love the interactivity of it, but also because I love the Muppets. And the Muppets storyline is the best one on Muppets.
[01:05:53] Speaker A: Don't want to do the Muppets, though. So they want to do, like, no, we can do the Muppets. And so that's the main hang up for me, is that they get irritated when they want to do the Muppets and they want to do pizza.
[01:06:06] Speaker C: Problem with having children. You know, I think.
[01:06:10] Speaker A: I think I'm gonna convince my second daughter that she's a Muppet fan, though. She was really into watching Muppet Christmas Carol last holiday season. Although that might have just been because then it really irritated her oldest sister.
I'm not sure if it was that she actually enjoyed it or if she just enjoyed making her upset.
[01:06:28] Speaker C: So listen, just play to that sibling rivalry. So you get a partner and a Muppet partner in crime. Okay? So you need one. Absolutely. All right, now, the last question of Rapid Fire is, of course, your bucket list cruise. Jessica, if you could go anywhere in the world on a Disney Cruise Line ship, and it doesn't have to be someplace that Disney cruises currently or. But it could be. It's just someplace accessible by water.
Where are you going?
[01:06:54] Speaker A: Well, I really, really want to do a Panama Canal cruise, but if I had to pick, like, anything, one of my coworkers is actually going on an Iceland cruise during, like, the solar eclipse in August. And so if that was on a Disney ship, I would be like, sign me up.
[01:07:11] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. All right, Jessica, you know you eked it out. You passed, okay? They're gonna give you a passing grade for that, even though you didn't finish the Muppets.
The Muppets.
[01:07:24] Speaker A: Next time.
[01:07:25] Speaker C: Next time. Absolutely. Next time. We. Next time you're on a Dream Class ship, you're gonna have to. Absolutely. But I know what Brian wants to ask, so I'll let him ask it rather than just jumping in.
[01:07:34] Speaker B: What's next? What's next, Jessica?
[01:07:36] Speaker A: We don't have any cruises booked right now. We do have a placeholder. We are going to Disneyland in, like, a week and a half. So.
[01:07:43] Speaker C: Nice.
[01:07:43] Speaker B: That takes a thing out of it for sure.
[01:07:45] Speaker C: Yeah, you're just like a hop, skip, and a jump away from Disneyland.
[01:07:49] Speaker A: So, you know, they had the three day Southern California passes a couple months ago, so we snagged those. And so we've got two days coming up and then another day before they expire in May.
Awesome.
[01:08:00] Speaker C: Awesome.
[01:08:01] Speaker B: Well, Jessica.
Go ahead, Sam.
[01:08:05] Speaker C: I was going to say exactly what you were going to say. I was just going to say thank you so much for coming on the show. Please, you know, reach out to us when you've got your next Disney cruise booked, and we'd be happy to have you come back and. And share more of your cruising experience with us.
[01:08:18] Speaker A: Thank you. It was a pleasure.
[01:08:25] Speaker D: Well, thanks to everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows, so be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us alive, we have a live show now every week Monday nights 5:30pm Pacific 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLduo so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts and if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of one of our main episodes. So please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course you can also help support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor My Path Unwinding Travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLD Duo or email them at DCLDuo mypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to DCLDuo.com it's got links to all of our things, full catalog of the podcast episodes including a searchable catalog for the podcast, links off to our vlog, a link to our Etsy store where we sell some fun fan inspired magnets. Link to our Patreon if you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or patreon.com DCLDUO also has a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here at least, and a few blog articles that we've written. So DCLDUO.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also of course email
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[01:10:32] Speaker A: It.
